Because Context Matters

Recently, Corporate Off-Lease Computers launched a newsletter under the title “Emerging Technologies Bulletin”. You might ask, “Why would an organization selling used computers launch a newsletter focusing on emerging technologies”? Isn’t there some incongruity here? It’s really pretty simple. Our passion is for helping small businesses maximize the value of money spent on computing (in our case through the use of Certified, Pre-Owned computers) and promoting the use of information technology to create competitive advantage. Both practically and strategically, we need to know where technology is headed and how to continue offering value to our customers. Monitoring IT’s direction and initiatives like cloud computing, SaaS, SOA, Web 2.0, blogs, Wikis, social-networking, network virtualization, client virtualization and more, allows us to put our product in context. Well why? Because! We need to offer Certified, Pre-Owned hardware to participate in these environments. While many of these applications seem to apply to large organizations, unless we keep abreast of these developments, we could be blind-sided in our mission if we didn’t keep abreast of their potential impact on smaller organizations. As an example, according to Forrester Research analyst James Staten, cloud computing is showing the classical signs of disruptive innovation, which he describes as “the use of technology that does not meet the needs of the current market but directly meets the requirements of a tangential market, and then rides the growth of the tangential market to the point where it either topples the current market or topples all the players that are currently meeting the needs of the current market”. Consequently, these developments are just as important to monitor, as changes in QuickBooks and web browsers a la Firefox 3.0 and Microsoft operating systems.

Recently, we shipped orders to customers purchasing equipment to enable VoIP, help centers, mobile applications using cellular air cards and more. And, cost effective entry into these applications has strategic and competitive value to these organizations. The cost savings associated with purchasing Certified-Pre-Owned computers enabled these organizations to implement initiatives to 1) change processes to become more cost effective, 2) deliver more value to customers and most importantly, 3) differentiate themselves from their competitors sooner, rather than later!

So to our newsletter and its editor Sharon Eastman, we say Bon Voyage!

If you’re interested in monitoring the impact of emerging technology on your organization and would like to receive a copy of our “Emerging Technologies Bulletin”, please email Sharon@CorporateOff-LeaseComputers.com and ask Sharon to add you to our distribution list.